Black Roses
by MiyaloutheStorm
Summary: During a mission, a seemingly insane exorcist, Joseph Wallace, notices a possible attraction between Allen and Kanda. Could love really exist between polar opposites? Yullen. Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray Man  
Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a D. Gray Man fanfic, so please don't be too harsh. My OCs have their purposes, so don't flame them. If some of the characters are OOC, it's because I'm not used to writing their personalities, yet.  
Pairings: Yullen

* * *

A figure with long black hair sat up in his bed. It was still dark, but sunrise would soon come. He had to move quickly. He stood up and put on only his exorcist coat, as he had fallen asleep in his clothes.

He quietly walked out of the room and knocked on the door to the left. There was no response. Luke wasn't up, yet. He was lucky his best friend was such a heavy sleeper even if he did wake up at 5:00 in the morning exactly. He ran the rest of the way to the cafeteria.

Jerry was already awake when he ran into the room. No one else was there, yet.

"What would you like this morning, Joseph?" Jerry asked.

"I want half of the food to be sushi and a plate each of soba, waffles with strawberries, beef stew, chicken fingers, and rice," the one now known as Joseph said.

Joseph sat down at the table by the back wall. Jerry walked over with the food a few minutes later. Joseph thanked him and began to eat. Luke and Kanda walked in a few minutes later. Luke quickly ordered an oversized salad and almost ran over to where Joseph was sitting. He sat in the chair across from Joseph, effectively obscuring Joseph froth the view of the rest of the room.

Luke had short blonde hair and blue green eyes the same shade as Joseph's eyes. He was one of the few people within the Order that knew Joseph wasn't schizophrenic.

Luke wordlessly stole a chicken finger from one of Joseph's plates and ripped it apart into his salad.

"Have you had any trouble with anyone, lately?" Luke asked.

"Not me. I think Johnathan may have gotten into a fight with Daiysa earlier, however. I heard it got pretty bad. Daiysa's in the infirmary and I have bruises all over my torso, so I guess they used Innocence," Joseph replied taking a bite of sushi.

"I'll ask Daysia what happened. Show me the chain."

Joseph took his right glove off. A kanji meaning despair was in the back of his hand and around his wrist. A chain extended from one of the kanji and wrapped around Luke's fork. Luke inspected the chain before taking his fork back.

"There is a little dried blood, but your body has probably dissolved the rest," Luke said.

Joseph retracted the chain and put his glove back on. He finished his food and walked out of the room. He walked back into his room, locked the door and window, and fell onto his bed in a deep sleep.

Allen and Kanda were standing in Komui's office an hour later. Komui was giving them a mission, but one more exorcist was needed.

"Once Joseph gets here, I will give you your mission," Komui said.

"Joseph! I won't work with him. He's insane," Kanda protested.

"I know, but he knows the area better than anyone."

Kanda didn't argue. A crash was heard followed by Joseph and Luke yelling at each other. A sleepy, uncomposed Joseph stumbled into the office.

"A mission?" Joseph asked.

"Yes. The three of you are going to investigate a series of disappearances in a village near Munich, Germany. Innocence may be involved," Komui said.

Joseph nodded and took his files and walked out of the room.

Komui turned to Allen and Kanda and said, "If you don't go now, he'll leave without you."

Allen ran out of the room. Kanda walked out. Joseph was standing in the hall not facing them.

"If neither of you mind, I want to take a shower before we go. It would only take a few minutes. You guys should, too . . ." Joseph said.

How dare he! Kanda walked up to Joseph intending to slap him for implying that he wasn't clean. He raised his hand. A pointed chain wrapped around his arm.

"Breaking you wrist would be a simple task, but I don't want you to slow me down any more than you are. Please just let me take my shower. I can't go to Munich looking like this. She'll . . . Just let me take my shower!" Joseph let go of Kanda and ran down the hall.

Kanda and Allen walked into the baths to find a closed shower with Joseph's clothes on a bench.

"If you want to join me and not waste any more time, I don't mind. I'll even keep my back turned if that is what you wish," Joseph's voice said from inside the shower.

"Why are you offering?" Kanda asked.

"Because of where we're going," Joseph replied.

Kanda and Allen walked into different showers. Allen finished first. Joseph was standing by the bench just wearing his pants. He was wrapping bandages around his left wrist and hand.

"What happened?" Allen asked while getting dressed.

"I punched out my window when I found out I--no not me. Johnathan--put Daisya in the infirmary. I cut my arm on the broken glass, " Joseph replied as he put his shirt back on.

Kanda soon joined them. He was dressed in a matter of seconds. Joseph picked up his coat and put it on as they walked out of the room. They walked to the front entrance when Joseph stopped and put his hand on the door.

"As soon as we walk out of this building, I won't wait for either of you," Joseph said.

Joseph opened the door and dashed away. He was soon in the underground waterway and was unwillingly waiting for Allen and Kanda. The finder wouldn't let him leave without the other two. Kanda and Allen got into the boat five minutes later. The finder rowed them away from the base. Joseph got out of the boat and dashed off again as the boat stopped. He jumped off the bridge and softly landed on the train, but had to run back a few cars to reach the right one. He opened the trap door and lowered himself into the train.

"There should be a reservation for the Black Order. There are three others coming," Joseph said to the steward.

The steward led Joseph to the reserved compartment. Joseph walked in and sat by the window. He opened the mission files and was about to read them, but stopped when he felt a familiar prodding at his mind.

"Maybe I don't want to talk to you, right now, Johnathan," Joseph said leaning on the window.

"But you've been ignoring me all day!" a slightly higher-pitched voice whined from Joseph's mouth.

"You put Daisya Barry in the infirmary. My body is covered in bruises. I believe I have a right to ignore you."

"He called us crazy."

"Everyone does."

"I couldn't just let him get away with it."

"If I fought every person who called me crazy, half of the Order would be hospitalized."

"They deserve it."

"No, they don't."

"They do."

"They don't. They have an opinion of me being crazy because we let them believe that with our conversations and the fact that we disappear a lot."

"That still doesn't give me a reason not to get into fights."

"Here's one: This is my body and you can't just use it how you please just because I passed out in the library."

". . . you win . . ."

"Now, go back to sleep. I don't need you right now."

"Ok."

Joseph looked up to see Kanda looking at him irritated and Allen looking at him scared. He curled into ball and whimpered a muffled "I'm sorry" before unfolding. He picked up the mission files and began to read them.

"I don't see why Komui even sent the two of you. This mission is simple."

Night soon fell. Joseph leaned against the window again and allowed sleep to take him.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: If I owned D. Gray Man, I wouldn't be posting this on a fanfiction website.  
Author's Note: Many thanks to those who reviewed. They inspired me to write this chapter faster than I would have otherwise.

* * *

-1_Joseph was laying on the edge of a grassy cliff. His blood and broken chains were scattered around him. Johnathan's fourteen-year-old form hovered over the drop off with the full moon behind him. He threw Joseph a black rose and disappeared._

Joseph jolted awake. It was the fifth time he'd had that dream in five nights. He had already decided that the dream was somehow important, but it was still unnerving.

He looked around to see that he was still in the train compartment. Kanda was stretched out on the other seat, asleep. Allen was asleep, as well. He was laying on the seat beside Joseph. Joseph brushed Allen's hair out of his eyes.

Allen was so innocent despite all of the hell that Joseph heard that General Cross put him through. Kanda wasn't innocent as Allen at all, but his eyes still reflected a painful past. Joseph knew they wouldn't believe him if he told them he understood. They would just take it as the ravings of a madman. Everyone else did.

"I'm going soft . . . I guess it's natural for his personality to rub off onto me after being attached to him for three years. Damn that semi-psychotic, sickeningly friendly, akuma wannabe," Joseph whispered to himself.

"I'm probably already damned and so are you," Johnathan's voice whispered.

"It was either me or him. You just stood in the corner and watched."

"I helped you plot."

"Yeah, but you didn't help me kill him."

"You sound like you're going to break. Go back to sleep."

"This is my body. I can do what I want with it. Maybe I want to be a sobbing insomniac."

"I'm the one that cries, remember? You're supposed to hold it all in until you finally put your fist through something made of glass."

"I already did."

"I guess that's not an option, then. Still, you're not supposed to cry."

"I know . . ."

"Don't think about it."

"I know . . ."

Johnathan retreated into the depths of Joseph's mind as the first tears began to fall from Joseph's eyes. Joseph buried his face in his hands and allowed himself to break. His body started shaking slightly, which awakened Allen.

Allen looked at Joseph in surprise. Joseph's shaking got worse. Allen hesitantly put a hand on Joseph's shoulder. Joseph's shaking stopped and Joseph placed his hand over Allen's.

"Thank you," Joseph whispered as he wiped his eyes.

"You're welcome . . ." Allen replied as Joseph let go of his hand.

"Please don't tell Kanda about this."

"I won't."

"Thank you, again."

Joseph leaned on the window again and fell back to sleep. His sleep was, thankfully, dreamless. He woke up again at exactly 4:00 in the morning as his subconscious "body clock" took effect. He didn't expect Kanda to be awake, yet.

Kanda was sitting up holding Mugen and looking out the window. He didn't seem to have noticed that Joseph was awake, yet. That wasn't surprising, however. Joseph never stretched or yawned as he was wide awake as soon as his eyes opened.

"How long have you been awake, Kanda?" Joseph asked.

Kanda jumped slightly before saying, "About an hour."

"When does bean sprout wake up?"

"In at least two hours from now."

"What a hindrance."

Kanda didn't reply. Joseph didn't want him to. They sat in silence until Allen woke up. The three of them walked to the dining car. Joseph smiled slightly at the waiter's expression when both Allen and he ordered. Allen tried to start a conversation during the meal, but neither Joseph nor Kanda responded to what he said. They went back to their compartment fully prepared to finish the last three hours of their ride in complete silence.

The train ride went smoothly for another hour, but a crash was soon heard and the train was knocked off its tracks. Joseph's body broke the window and fell through as the train fell over. The window finished shattering as it came in contact with Joseph. Kanda fell on top of Joseph. Allen managed to activate his Innocence and was hanging from the open door of the compartment.

"Are you two ok?" Allen asked.

"Like a train accident could stop me," Kanda said unpinning Joseph.

Joseph pulled himself inside of the train. His right leg was covered in gashes. It had obviously been trapped under the train. His knee shook before it collapsed. A chain extended from the back of his hand and wrapped around a metal bar connected to the door of the compartment and lifted himself up. He said nothing as he left the compartment.

Kanda reluctantly took Allen's outstretched hand and Allen lifted them out of the compartment. Joseph was standing in the hallway with a chain wrapped around his injured leg. His chains were extended with white auras around them. The level one akuma on the ends of the chains simultaneously exploded.

"There's ten more inside the train and about fifty outside. All of them are either level 1 or level 1.5. I'll take care of the ones in the train then join the two of you outside. We're headed to Munich after that," Joseph said.

Kanda unsheathed Mugen and swung it at Joseph. Joseph dodged and sent a white aura chain in Kanda's direction. The chain went over Kanda's shoulder and destroyed the akuma that was about to attack Kanda.

Allen and Kanda climbed out of the train and began to fight the akuma there. Two of the level 1.5 akuma evolved before they could destroy them. Joseph joined them ten minutes into the fight. The akuma were defeated twenty minutes later. Joseph wrapped a chain around both Allen's and Kanda's wrists.

"That train isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I don't want you two to slow me down any more than you already have," Joseph explained when Allen asked about it.

They were soon on their way to their destination.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: If I owned D. Gray Man, Joseph would be a canon character and he isn't, therefore, I don't own.  
Author's Note: I must thank my reviewers for your support. Forgive me for the shortness of this one, but the chapter has to end where it does. Forgive me everyone, but most of the Yullen moments won't come until the sequel of this story. For now, I must sort out Joseph's issues.

* * *

Joseph was in a strange mood by the time they entered Munich. He was trying to smile and glare at the same time, and his entire body was trembling.

"Be careful when crossing the streets here. The people in this city drive badly," Joseph said in and emotionless voice.

He gave no other explanation even when Allen asked him what was wrong. He merely led them to a small restaurant that was set a bit away from the rest of the buildings in the city. It was hardly noticeable with it's peculiar location and the trees growing around it. Both Kanda and Allen looked at him strangely as they walked in.

They barely stepped away in time as a blur of blue and blonde suddenly flew at Joseph and knocked him back into the door of the restaurant.

"It's nice to see you, too, Mariele," Joseph said removing the young woman from his waist.

"It's about time you came back to Germany. You've been gone for three years, now," the woman said.

Joseph led Allen and Kanda to a table in a corner farthest from the door. He sat on one side of the table while Allen and Kanda sat on the other side.

"Why did you choose this restaurant?" Kanda asked looking around.

The walls of the restaurant were blue with clouds painted on them.

"This restaurant's owners support the Black Order, and it's multi-cultural. You can order just about whatever you want. It's also not that popular because of the location," Joseph explained.

Mariele walked to the table and took their orders before sitting in the empty chair beside Joseph.

"So, Mariele, are you going to tell me what's happened her since I left?" Joseph asked.

"Ok. Two days after you left, your mother lost it. She's currently residing in the asylum," Mariele started.

"She should have gone way before then."

"A month after that, something weird happened to Florenz. It started with his forehead bleeding. The cuts turned into seven cross-shaped scars and his skin changed to a grey-brown color."

"So Florenz is . . ."

"And something strange started happening to the bridge where _that_ happened about a month ago."

"History repeating itself?"

"Yeah . . ."

Mariele got up and walked away when the orders came. Joseph didn't eat right away. He, instead, got a serious look on his face and faced Allen and Kanda.

"The mission reports didn't go into very much detail, but I understand what is going on now. Three years ago, two brothers were standing on a bridge when a person recklessly driving a carriage ran over them. One was knocked into the water and drowned. The other stayed on the bridge, but was left with a scar across his back from the accident. The one that survived carved a cross on the railing where the other was standing before he died," Joseph said.

He started eating after that. They were soon finished with their food and left the restaurant. Joseph led them to a bridge just outside of the city. Some of the Finders were on the bridge.

"The place where it all began. Right, Joey?" Johnathan's voice said.

"I hoped I would never have to see it again," Joseph replied.

Joseph walked to the edge of the river. Allen went to talk to the Finders. Kanda started inspecting the bridge, itself. Joseph put his hand in the water and quickly pulled it out.

"The current is too strong and it's going in the wrong direction. There's definitely something wrong here," Joseph said to himself.

"A whirlpool?" he heard Kanda say.

Kanda lowered himself into the river and started swimming toward the whirlpool. A barrier appeared around the whirlpool and knocked Kanda away. Joseph's chain wrapped around his waist and lifted him back up onto the bridge. Joseph joined the other two on the bridge.

"It seems that only way to get the Innocence would be to fulfill the conditions of the bridge," Joseph said walking to a cross carving and standing in front of it. "Allen, come here and stand to my left."

"Are you sure about this?" Allen asked standing where Joseph asked him to.

"Yeah. Brace yourself. The next few minutes are going to hurt like hell."

Allen nodded. A carriage rushed over the bridge and hit both Allen and Joseph. It went through Kanda as if it was intangible like a shadow. Allen fell onto the floor of the bridge with blood seeping from his back. Joseph was thrown off. Joseph's chain wrapped around the rail of the bridge.

Joseph looked up at the bridge to see Kanda holding up Allen's bleeding form. He looked genuinely concerned for the well being of the bean sprout. That wasn't a usual expression for Kanda from what Joseph had observed. There must have been something special about Allen in Kanda's eyes.

Joseph looked down at the whirlpool and dropped into it. The inactivated chains were able to break through the barrier. He reached through the raging water and took the Innocence. His hand was crushed from the force of the whirlpool. The water suddenly seemed a lot darker than it was before . . .


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: I am truly sorry for the long wait. Combine a cold, graduation, and writer's block. I'm also sorry that this chapter is so short. I can't really write in Johnathan's point of view very well. Constructive criticism is always welcome but flames aren't.  
Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray Man

* * *

Johnathan was surprised when he found that he was being allowed use of their body so soon after his fight with Daiysa. He looked at his left hand and right leg and sighed. He extended a chain from his right hand, wrapped it around the rail of the bridge, and pulled himself out of the river.

"To think that Joseph yells at me for being reckless with our body," Johnathan said wrapping a chain around his injured leg.

Allen and Kanda looked at him strangely when he spoke. He sighed in slight disappointment. He, apparently, had a lot to tell them. He laid his arms on the railing.

"My brother hasn't told you anything about us has he?" Johnathan asked.

"He hasn't." Kanda said.

Johnathan sighed again and led them to the Inn they were going to be staying at. Lavi and Bookman were there waiting for them. They walked into the room the Order had reserved for them for that night. Kanda laid Allen on one of the beds. Bookman immediately got to work stitching up Allen's gash. Johnathan walked to the window and stared out. He hated the sight of blood despite the fact that Joseph loved it. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around. Lavi was standing behind him.

"Bookman wants to take a look at your injuries," Lavi said.

"There's no need. A Wallace heals differently than normal humans. I should be fine by tomorrow morning. Joseph will probably be in control by then," Johnathan said.

"In what way does a Wallace heal differently?" Bookman asked.

"There's nothing written in history about the Wallace Clan . . ." Johnathan said mournfully.

He sat down in a chair and unwound the chain from his injured leg.

"The Wallace Clan was born just after the Tower of Babylon was prevented from being built. Our name wasn't Wallace until about 500 years later. We were created to prevent humans from becoming gods. The chains and healing ability were added in the early 1400s when the clan leader, who represented death, was cursed by Chinese dark magic after killing the magician's family. The leader was killed and a new death was never born . . ." Johnathan explained. "Our injuries forcefully heal themselves when we rest."

He was actually happy that the only person really listening was Bookman. Kanda was already in his bed asleep. Lavi was trying to figure out who Allen had a crush on. Allen was denying being in love.

Johnathan wrapped a chain around his injured leg, walked over to one of the empty beds, and sat down on it. He took off his boots and exorcist coat and crawled under the blankets knowing that he wouldn't be sleeping for a few hours. The healing process felt about as pleasant as surgery without anesthesia. Sharp pains started shooting through his hand and leg. He involuntarily started shaking from the pain. Tears started falling from his eyes, but no sound escaped his lips.

A hand gently cupped his cheek and wiped away his tears. The weight on the bed shifted as Lavi's face came into view. Johnathan smiled briefly before another wave of pain hit him. The pain soon stopped. Johnathan flexed his formerly injured hand.

"Thank you, but why did you try to comfort me?" he asked Lavi.

Lavi smiled and said, "I don't like seeing anyone in pain."

Johnathan would have said more, but he passed out from the loss of the energy that the healing process used up.

_Johnathan was hovering over the edge of a cliff. He could tell without looking that the full moon was behind him. Joseph was laying on the edge of the cliff with his own blood and the remnants of his chains surrounding. Johnathan tried to say something that would help his brother, but his lips wouldn't move. He looked at the black rose in his hand and threw it to Joseph before everything turned black._

Johnathan weakly sat up and looked around. The only person that was awake was Kanda. Johnathan sighed. Truthfully, Kanda scared him. That just proved he was human, however. He wished that Joseph was responsive, but Joseph's lack of pain tolerance was preventing that. Johnathan sighed and lowered himself back into the bed. He fell back to sleep as it was only 3:00 in the morning.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Here is the fifth chapter of Black Roses. I finally got my inspiration back for this story. The plot is finally coming along smoothly. I must take a moment to thank everyone who reviewed or added this story to their Alerts or Favorites.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned D. Gray-Man, but unfortunately . . .

* * *

Joseph woke up at his usual time of 4:00 am to find that his injuries were healed. He hated to take advantage of Johnathan like that, but Johnathan's pain tolerance was much higher than his own. He just wondered what Johnathan told everyone. Johnathan's inability to keep his mouth shut had always been a clan joke.

Joseph tried to sit up, but a pair of hands on his shoulders pushed him back down. He looked up to see Kanda leaning over him.

"What are you--" Joseph started.

"Go back to sleep," Kanda said.

"But I always wake up at four."

"Anyone can see you're tired, still."

"I wake up at four even when I'm tired."

"Then you need to stop. What if akuma attack and you're too tired to fight?"

Joseph didn't reply. Kanda was right. Joseph turned onto his side and allowed his eyes to flutter closed, again. He fell asleep five minutes later.

_A ten-year-old Joseph was sitting on the floor of his room clutching a broadsword that was as tall as he was. Johnathan was sitting behind him gently rubbing circles into his back. _

_"Joey, relax. It has to be done," Johnathan said embracing his twin._

_"It's murder, though," Joseph said shaking._

_"He'll kill you if you don't."_

_At that moment, a man with black hair and green eyes burst into the room with four lengths of rope and a whip in his hands. Joseph picked up the sword, got up off of the floor, and ran forward. A cry tore from his lips as he stabbed his father through the stomach and brought the sword upwards through his chest. His father fell over dead._

_Joseph dropped the sword and fell back. Johnathan caught him before he hit the ground. A woman with black hair and blue green eyes walked through the door of the room holding a dagger as if she were going to slit someone's throat or stab them. She saw her dead husband and put the knife away. She had obviously been planning the same thing._

_She walked over to her sons and embraced them. Tears were falling from her eyes. _

_"I'm just so happy he didn't hurt you anymore, Joey," she whispered._

Everyone else were already up by the time Joseph woke up again. He sat up and looked at his hands. He closed his eyes and could clearly see the blood that had covered them _that_ day. He opened his eyes and got up. He walked over to Allen's bed and sat beside him.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Joseph asked.

"My back hurts and I'm hungry," Allen replied.

Joseph just nodded and left the room. He almost ran into Lavi, who was carrying a tray with a mountain of food on it. He walked down the stairs and got some food for himself. He just got a regular sized meal. He didn't need an overly large meal except once every three days. He knew it was because of his Innocence. He also knew subtle facts like that were going to be the very things that would eventually cause him to become a Fallen One. He shivered at that thought.

The windows of the inn were smashed as akuma attacked. Joseph activated his Innocence and allowed the chains to destroy all of the level one akuma that had come into the room. He ran up the stairs and into their room. One of the walls had been destroyed and akuma were about to flood the room. Lavi and Kanda were fighting from outside because they knew that their anti-akuma weapons would probably demolish the room. Allen was being held back from fighting by Bookman.

Joseph's chains immediately destroyed any akuma that dared enter the room before he walked over to the destroyed wall and allowed the chains to destroy the akuma outside. A level two grabbed one of his chains and slammed him into a store two buildings away. The store owner helped him up with a plea of , "Please save us."

Joseph ran back to the battlefield intending to get revenge on that level two only to see Kanda destroy it before he could get there. He turned his attention to another level two which wasn't so easy to destroy by letting his chains do what they wanted to. He was a bit irritated that he had to actually make an effort in this fight.

After ten minutes of running and dodging lightning attacks, Joseph finally managed to bind the akuma with the chains and destroy it. He heard someone call his name from behind him. He turned around only to get hit with several akuma blood bullets. He collapsed as black stars began to cover his body. He could hear the other exorcists calling his name in worried tones.

The white aura around his chains suddenly turned black. The black aura surrounded his body and the stars disappeared one by one. The black aura disappeared and the white aura surrounded his chains once again. It was yet another subtle detail that would cause him to fall one day.

The chains massacred the akuma around him. It was at that point that a sword-wielding level two charged toward him. Joseph was too injured to move. A blur of black and white suddenly got between him and the akuma. Joseph realized a second too late who it was. Allen had taken the hit.

The chains reacted on their own and destroyed the akuma. Joseph didn't flinch when Allen fell back onto his injured body. He, instead, pulled the younger one into a loose half-embrace. Lavi and Kanda walked to them. Kanda carefully lifted Allen up off of Joseph. He failed to see the blush on the bean sprout's cheeks, but neither Lavi nor Joseph missed it. Lavi carefully lifted Joseph into a standing position and helped him walk back to the inn.

Bookman was waiting for them when they got back to their room. Lavi quickly put Joseph onto his bed and ran out of the room.

"Your Innocence is synchronized incorrectly, isn't it?" Bookman asked.

That was it: the main problem with Joseph's Innocence. The main thing that would cause him to fall.

"Apparently. Komui did a lot of experiments on my arm and that's what he figured," Joseph replied.

Kanda entered the room with a heaping tray of food. He put it on the table beside the bed where Allen was laying. Joseph had the feeling that it was going to be a long night.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: I'm going to start implying LavixJoseph now, but nothing is going to come of it. I'm stuck on the second chapter of Phoenix, so the update may not be for a while or it could be tomorrow . . . I must thank everyone who reviewed or added this story to favorites or alerts. You all make me feel so loved.

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man.

* * *

_Joseph was laying on the edge of a grassy cliff. His blood and broken chains were scattered around him. Johnathan's fourteen-year-old form hovered over the drop off with the full moon behind him. He threw Joseph a black rose and disappeared._

Joseph awoke startled. He had that dream again. He tried to sit up but found that his injuries weren't healed yet. He whispered a string of curses that would make Kanda blush. He looked around to see that everyone was asleep except for Lavi, who wasn't even in the room. The wall was still laying in ruins.

Joseph silently stared at the full moon. His thoughts drifted back to his recurring dream. What did it mean? He didn't understand. Truthfully, he didn't want to understand. He tried to turn over, but his injuries prevented that from happening. He looked at Allen's broken form. The selfless brat had almost gotten himself killed trying to protect Joseph.

Joseph returned his attention to the moon. He saw a brief flicker of movement before a pair of hands wrapped around his throat. He looked up into a familiar face. The person had waist-length black hair and blue green eyes. The kanji of pain was slightly visible from beneath his shirt on his right shoulder.

"Florenz Wallace, you became a Noah. You're trying to kill me now. Did the Millennium Earl tell you to?" Joseph asked.

"No. I just decided that blood traitors like you deserve to die," Florenz said.

"You're as much of a blood traitor as I am, even if you weren't given a choice and I was. Wallaces aren't supposed to take sides in this war," Joseph said.

Florenz lifted his hands from Joseph's neck. His skin had taken a darker shade and his eyes turned gold. His hands slid to Joseph's shoulders. He lowered his lips to Joseph's and gently pried his mouth open. His top canine teeth elongated and pierced through Joseph's tongue. He pulled away and licked the blood off of his lips.

"Let that be a reminder for the next time we meet," Florenz said.

Joseph's only response was a muffled choking noise as blood had begun to fill his mouth.

"Next time, I'll kill you as a Noah and not a Wallace," Florenz said turning his back to Joseph.

Joseph didn't even try to respond. Blood was seeping from the corners of his mouth, now.

"Your blood tastes good for a traitor's," Florenz said and left the room.

Joseph fainted. Lavi had been standing outside of the room for the last few minutes. He was a bit worried that Joseph stopped speaking, but he also knew that he wasn't strong enough to take on a Noah on his own and live. He waited until he was sure the Noah was gone before he went in.

Lavi immediately went to Joseph's bed to see the blood flowing from his mouth. Lavi gently lifted up Joseph's upper body and started wiping the sides of Joseph's mouth with one of the leftover bandages. He then held another leftover bandage to Joseph's mouth and drained the blood. Lavi put the younger exorcist back down and got into the bed he would be sleeping in.

Joseph was shaken awake by an extremely hyper Lavi the next morning.

"Did you notice that Yuu-chan and bean sprout like each other?" Lavi whispered into Joseph's ear.

"I noticed. Why?" Joseph asked.

"Because they haven't!"

"Let's see if we can get them together."

"That's what I was thinking!"

Joseph and Lavi got identical evil grins on their faces. Bookman walked into the room and then walked right back out wondering what they were plotting. Lavi almost dragged Joseph out of bed.

"No. We should wait until we're back at the order before we try anything," Joseph protested as Lavi dragged him out of the room spouting random nonsense that wouldn't work.

Lavi eventually agreed and dropped Joseph. Joseph dusted himself off and walked out of the inn. He walked into the shopping district and started buying objects to replace those that had been in his suitcase that was destroyed by the akuma attack the day before. Lavi met him just as he entered a shop that sold games. Joseph had just picked up a deck of cards.

"Are you planning to play poker against Allen?" Lavi asked.

"No. He'd cheat. Poker isn't the only card game, and bean sprout isn't the only master of a card game around here," Joseph replied.

"Then, what card game are you a master of?"

"Blackjack."

Joseph paid for the cards and walked out of the shop. He walked back to the inn and started packing the things he bought except for the cards. He arranged the cards in order of suit and number starting with the ace of spades and ending with the king of hearts. He then put them in his pocket.

Lavi ran into the room and sat down beside Joseph. He started naming random ideas of how to get Allen and Kanda together. Each one was more pathetic than the last. Joseph finally got irritated and put his hand over Lavi's mouth, only for Lavi to lick his hand. His hand didn't budge, even though he was considering using it to blind Lavi's good eye.

"Have Kanda carry Allen to the train then make them sit together. Allen won't be waking up for a few days, so it should work out on Kanda's part," Joseph finally said before letting go.

He walked into the bathroom and washed his hands. He walked back into the other room and shook the water off of his hands into Lavi's hair. Lavi grabbed Joseph's arm and started a mock fist fight that abruptly ended with Joseph pinned to the bed under Lavi when Kanda walked into the room.

Kanda raised an eyebrow and said, "Really, you two doing _that_ with the bean sprout in here? He'll be scarred for life."

"This is not what it looks like, Kanda," Joseph said. "Get off, damn rabbit."

Kanda shook his head, picked up Allen's unconscious form, and left the room. The train was leaving in five minutes.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: I want to know if everyone wants the plan for Allen and Kanda to become a couple first or the reason Joseph has two personalities to be first in the next chapter. I can write either one first. As usual, thank you for the reviews, alerts, and favorites.

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man even though I wish I did. Brianna, Luke, and the Wallace Clan are mine, though.

* * *

Joseph and Lavi were both irritated by the time they got on the train. They had been forced to carry their own suitcases as well as those of Bookman, Allen, and Kanda. Johnathan was laughing at Joseph without manipulating their body. Joseph had already told him to shut it five times. This earned him some odd stares from some of the other passengers.

Kanda and Bookman sat on one side of the compartment with Allen laying between them. Lavi and Joseph were sitting on the other side of the compartment on opposite ends of the seat turned away from each other. No one said anything even after night fell. Everyone was soon asleep.

_A fourteen-year-old Joseph was standing on a bridge beside Johnathan. Joseph was sketching the scenery in front of him while Johnathan was talking to him. Despite their opposite personalities, they were best friends and never fought. Johnathan suddenly hugged Joseph from the side._

_"What was that for?" Joseph asked not looking up from his sketchpad._

_"Because I love you, Joey. Even if you are a sarcastic jerk," Johnathan replied._

_"I am not a sarcastic jerk."_

_"Sure you aren't."_

_"Who's being sarcastic, now?"_

_Joseph looked up for a few seconds and went back to drawing almost immediately. Johnathan let go of his evil twin and started looking at Joseph's sketch. Without looking up, Joseph raised two fingers and turned Johnathan's face away._

_"I can't draw if you're staring at the drawing like that," Joseph explained._

_"You draw just as well when I'm looking as when I'm not," Johnathan said looking across the water._

_Several people screamed as the driver of a carriage lost control of the horses. Joseph soon found himself laying on the bridge in the most hellish pain of his life. His blood was beginning to pool around him. He heard a splash and saw Johnathan struggle in the water, through the spaces between the boards of the bridge, before sinking due to the weight of the chains of misfortune._

_"JOHNATHAN!"_

Joseph was shaken awake the next morning. He opened his eyes to see an emerald green one staring back. He jumped back in surprise. Lavi just smiled.

"Too close for comfort, Lavi. Why did you wake me?" Joseph said.

"You were crying in your sleep," Lavi replied.

"Damn."

"What were you dreaming about?"

"The day Johnathan died."

". . ."

Lavi wordlessly pulled Joseph into an embrace only to get thrown out of the compartment. Joseph took out his cards and started arranging them again. Kanda was staring out the window with one of his hands occasionally brushing Allen's bangs. Allen was still unconscious. Bookman was shaking his head at his idiot apprentice.

They reached the Black Order in the late afternoon. Komui and Lenalee were waiting on the dock for them. Komui grabbed Joseph's wrist as soon as he stepped out of the boat. He dragged Joseph into the castle and allowed Lenalee to take care of everyone else. Komui's insistent dragging of Joseph didn't stop until they were in Hevlaska's chamber. Joseph sighed and allowed Hevlaska to lift him up.

"Fifteen percent . . ." she said before putting Joseph down again.

Joseph's face lost all emotion as Hevlaska put him back down. Komui looked at him sadly as he helped the teenager stand.

"Your Innocence synchronization has finally hit the danger zone. What did you do to cause it to decrease?" Komui asked on the way back to his office.

"Johnathan activated the Dark Matter that binds his soul to my body to prevent the akuma blood virus from killing me even though he knows that virus doesn't affect me all that much," Joseph said clearly trying to hold back tears even if it didn't show up in his voice.

"If you try to activate your Innocence anymore, you could die. I don't want you to be an exorcist anymore."

"I'm not giving up my position. It will cause everything I have worked for these last three years to be void. My very existence would be meaningless."

"Then find a new reason to live."

"There can be no other reason for me. Otherwise, Cross would have killed me instead of saving me."

They were standing in Komui's office now and Lavi was looking at them confusedly. Kanda started giving to mission details and gave Komui the Innocence before retreating to his room.

Joseph walked out of the office as well. He was tired and almost depressed. He needed to cry whether it was tears or blood. He walked into his room and crossed over to the window.

* * *

Lavi was walking down one of the halls looking for Joseph's room. He wanted to get started on the plan that would get Allen and Kanda together as soon as possible. He had asked around, but no one knew where Joseph's room was. They knew the floor, but not the room. Lavi finally came up on two people talking. The first was a man in his early twenties with blonde hair and blue green eyes. The other was a girl in her early teens that looked like a female form of Lavi.

"Brianna_-chan_!" Lavi suddenly exclaimed as he ran forward and captured the thirteen-year-old in a hug.

"Hi, _usagi-ni-chan_," Brianna replied with her heavy Japanese accent obscuring her first word to the point that she decided to abandon English altogether in the rest of that sentence.

Brianna joined the Order when she was ten. She had been rescued by General Lindo Wallace, Luke, and Joseph from a collapsing ninjitsu dojo in Japan that had been attacked by akuma. Despite her European heritage, she still had trouble with English.

When Lavi joined the Order, he almost immediately became friends with her because of her appearance. Both had red hair, a green eye, and an eye covered with an eye patch. Lavi had often asked about her eye, but Luke and Joseph would always get defensive and refuse to answer. He would usually find himself with one of Joseph's sharpened chains running along his jugular vein, tied up in Luke's marionette wires, or both at the same time.

"Do you know where Joseph's room is?" Lavi asked Luke while nuzzling Brianna's hair.

"Door to my left, but I don't think you should go in there," Luke replied.

"Why not?"

"He looked really upset. I asked him what was wrong, but I couldn't understand a single word that he said. He was trying to speak in English, German, and Chinese all at once."

Before anyone could say anything else, the sound of breaking glass and a muffled sob came from Joseph's room.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: No one was decisive on which plot point to come first, so I decided on Joseph's character development before the Komurin incident. The plot will take on a darker theme now and the rating may change to M for the next chapter. Excuse any mistakes I may have made in this chapter. My beta is on vacation and I don't have anyone else to help me.

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man.

* * *

Lavi cautiously opened the door to Joseph's room. He had never been in Joseph's room before, so he had to look around for a minute to look around. The walls of Joseph's room were completely covered in papers with sketches on them that made up a larger picture. One wall had a dock on the ocean with a forest surrounding it. The other walls made up the forest. The wall across the room from the dock had a clearing in the forest with the bark of the trees partially sliced up in a perfect replication of Kanda's training ground. Joseph's bed was in a corner between the walls with the clearing and the window. The bed had three mismatched blankets, a black sheet, and a black pillow. A desk with several sketchbooks on it including a bloodstained one sat in the corner between the walls that made up the dock and had the door. The desk chair was sitting on the other side of the room with the back against the bed.

Joseph was standing by the window with his bloody fist through the broken glass still and tears were flowing from his closed eyes. He pulled his fist back and was about to smash another pane of the window when five thin wires wrapped around his arm and pulled it away from the glass.

Joseph opened his eyes and turned around to see that Luke's Innocence was activated and the marionette wires were controlling his arm. Joseph started struggling to get free of Luke's grasp. Three of the wires released his arm only to reattach at different points of his body along with the other five wires. Luke manipulated Joseph's body to walk away from the window.

Luke wrapped his arms around the distraught teenager he was controlling when Joseph was close enough. Joseph's struggles ceased, but he didn't return the embrace. It was at that point that Joseph felt his left arm spasm.

He pushed away from Luke, held his twitching arm, and said, "Damn."

Joseph ran out of the room, nearly flattened Kanda in the hallway, and ran into the infirmary. He walked over to Allen's bed and kidnapped Timcampy. He had almost reached the door when the head nurse dragged him back and bandaged his hand. The twitching got worse. He walked out of the infirmary and ran back to his room with the struggling golem still in hand.

Joseph walked into his room and opened one of the drawers in his desk. Two normal-looking golems fluttered out. One was a normal golem and the other had a blinking red light on it. He picked up the one with the light and attached it to Timcampy. A hologram of a world map appeared above both of them. A location in northern Italy was lit up on Timcampy's and soon lit up on the other one. Joseph released Timcampy and put the other golem in his pocket. Timcampy flew away.

Kanda walked into the room a few minutes after Timcampy left. He was carrying a metal container with two handles. He put it down on Joseph's desk and turned to Joseph.

"That is from Jerry and we have a mission in Verona, Italy. Komui said he would have sent the bean sprout, but you will replace him on this mission since he's incapacitated right now," Kanda said.

"When do we leave?" Joseph asked.

"In ten minutes."

"I'll meet you at the dock."

Kanda left the room. Joseph dumped out his suitcase and started repacking it. He packed three changes of clothes, his deck of cards, one of his sketchbooks, his drawing materials, a dagger, a syringe, and a small package of tools used to work on machinery. He put the metal container from Jerry on top of everything else. He walked out of his room.

Kanda and the finder, Toma, were waiting for him at the dock. He climbed into the boat and accepted the folder that Kanda was trying to give him. His arm gave another spasm.

Toma got a worried look and said, "Do you think you should be going on a mission with your arm like that? You could have asked Komui for a replacement, Master Wallace."

"I think Komui sent me instead of one of the other exorcists because he thinks a mission might improve my synchronization rate. Besides, I was going to request a vacation in Verona if I didn't get a mission or just run away from the headquarters and go there," Joseph replied grabbing his twitching hand.

"Why?"

"There's someone in Verona, Italy, that can help me with this problem."

On the train, the twitching got worse. His right leg started twitching as well. Joseph's hand that wasn't rebelling came to rest on his forehead in an attempt to ward away the headache that was forming as a result of the twitching.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kanda asked.

"Feels like my body is trying to rip apart. If Cross isn't in Verona when we get there, I'm going to track him down and kill him," Joseph replied.

The chains sprouted from Joseph's arm on their own and bound the twitching appendages. He laid down on the seat with his back to Kanda.

"Wake me up when we get there," he said.

_"What the hell is wrong with our body?"_ Joseph thought hoping Johnathan would hear.

_"I think the Innocence synchronization has gotten too low to keep the urges at bay, and it's rebelling against our body,"_ came Johnathan's thought.

_"How long do you think I have before this makes me go completely insane?"_

_"How would I know?"_

_"Because it's your part of our body."_

_"I guess we can just hope Cross is in Italy when we get there. I'll try to suppress it as much as I can."_

_"Thank you."_

The twitching came to a stop, and Joseph fell asleep. The headache went away and his hand fell onto the seat beside him. Kanda saw this and walked kneeled beside Joseph searching for a pulse. He found a pulse using a pulse point on Joseph's neck. He relaxed and sat back down on his seat.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait everyone. I was focusing on Phoenix and fighting with Firefox. I hope I answered some questions about Joseph in this chapter. There's no Allen in this chapter, but the Yullen moments will come. I think Cross is in character here, but I'm not really sure. Sorry for any characters being OOC. Thank you for the reviews, alerts, and favorites.

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man.

* * *

Joseph was jolted awake by his arm twitching again. He wrapped the chain tighter around it until the motion ceased. He sat up to see that Kanda was asleep on the seat across from him. He decided it would be a good chance to make sure he had everything. He picked up his suitcase and opened it. He took out the metal container containing whatever food Jerry randomly decided to cook him after he didn't show up for dinner and put it on the seat beside him before dumping out everything else. The resulting noise awakened Kanda.

"What is all of that?" he asked.

"Essentials for the trip," Joseph replied.

"A dagger, a syringe, and machine parts are essentials?"

"For this trip."

"Those objects don't even relate to each other."

"They're crude instruments of what is needed, but will still do the job. It's also a very unusual procedure that only General Cross knows how to do."

"What is it?"

"You'll see."

Neither spoke for the remainder of the train ride. The sky was dark when they arrived in Verona, Italy. Kanda went to secure a hotel room for the night while Joseph went to ask around about the geyser that was supposed to be randomly appearing with the excuse that he did his best work at night. He was actually looking for Cross. He saw a young woman walking down the street.

"Do you know anything about a geyser that's been appearing here?" he asked hoping to get an answer that would lead to Cross.

"Yeah. A man named Cross stopped them. He was so awesome! He killed the attacking demons effortlessly and took me on a date afterwards. He was so handsome and charming. I swear, it was love at first sight!" the woman squealed.

"Cross seems to have that effect on people. Do you know where he is, now?"

"He said something about getting a drink at the local bar. He should be easy to find."

"Ok. Thank you."

Joseph walked away looking for the bar. He found it and was about to go in when a body much larger than his own smashed in to him and knocked him to the ground. He looked up into the face of the one and only Cross Marian.

Cross shook his head and helped Joseph up before saying, "I didn't know you drink, Joseph."

"I don't. I was looking for you," Joseph said.

"Why?"

"Because I need your help."

"Why would I help you?"

"Because you wouldn't want your greatest achievement to die, would you?"

Cross gave a defeated sigh and followed Joseph to the hotel. The only room Kanda managed to get only had one bed. He was sitting it when the other two walked into the room.

"Kanda, he completed our mission before we even got here . . ." Joseph said while walking over to his suitcase.

He opened his suitcase and started taking out the objects needed before stripping down to his boxers. He sat on the bed and gave Cross the dagger and machine tools. He put the metal container of food in Kanda's hands and kept the syringe himself.

"You both know that if I start turning blue and purple or grey to kill me, right?" Joseph asked.

"I understand the grey, but why blue and purple?" Kanda asked.

"Because either Cross punctured a main blood vessel and I'm bleeding to death, or I'm about to get about as big as this hotel and shoot everything in sight until I use up my lifespan or the chains attempt to stop me which will cause my body to self-destruct," Joseph replied.

He injected himself with the sedative, looked at Cross, and said, "Now, slice."

Joseph fell back onto the pillow unconscious. Cross positioned the dagger at the inside of the elbow of the twitching arm and sliced to the wrist. He pulled the skin back revealing a blue metal akuma bone with a human wrist. He took one of the other tools, split the metal, and removed it. The human bone underneath, which was crushed, started fusing itself back together. He then sliced open the twitching and repeated the procedure. Cross opened the boy's chest and started poking at the metal ribs. Kanda noticed that all of Joseph's internal organs were slightly to the left of where they should have been and the spaces where they should have been were filled with chains. Exactly half of Joseph's ribs were made of akuma skeleton. The other half were human. Cross, seemingly satisfied, let the skin fall back into it's original position where it healed.

Cross positioned the dagger at the shoulder of Joseph's right arm and sliced down to the wrist. All the bones in that arm were human. The chains in that arm were worn and about to break. Cross extracted an Innocence fragment and a black crystal in the shape of a rose. He rearranged some of the chains and placed the rose crystal back into the arm. He let the arm heal and let the Innocence fuse with the it. The despair kanji moved to Joseph's shoulder as a tattoo-like marking in the shape of flames covered Joseph's forearm.

Cross moved away from the bed and put the dagger back into Joseph's suitcase. He turned to Kanda and smirked.

"Tell the brat he's paying my debts when he wakes up," Cross said and left the room.

Kanda could only nod. He was still in shock with the fact that he had been working with an akuma on his last mission. He looked at the figure still unconscious on the bed and decided that he couldn't let him just lay there in his underwear. He dressed Joseph, placed him under the blankets of the bed, and got in himself. He laid as far away from the half-akuma as he could. He fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

The window of the room opened and the familiar figure of the Noah of pain stepped in.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: I finally have this set of Joseph's issues sorted out, so I can finally start on the Yullen. This is a chapter that basically looks into Joseph's mind. From this point until a certain event (I'm not giving spoilers to my own stories) happens, there will probably be more romance and humor than angst. After the event that triggers Joseph's next set of issues, the story will come to an abrupt end and the sequal will begin.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned D. Gray-Man, but I don't.

* * *

Florenz Wallace looked at the sleeping figure of his cousin. He still thought Joseph looked strange with short hair, but he was still as beautiful as he had always been. Short hair suited Johnathan, but not Joseph.

Florenz mentally slapped himself for getting distracted. He had a job to do. If he succeeded, he would set himself up to do a hopefully crippling blow to the Millennium Earl. He just hoped his Noah side or the Wallace curse wouldn't take over his mind before he was finished. The Noah side would sabotage it and possibly kill everyone in the inn. The Wallace curse would just kill everyone.

He slid his arms underneath Joseph and lifted him up bridal style. Joseph stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. Florenz figured he was under the influence of some sort of sedative since he was usually a very light sleeper.

Florenz sighed and put Joseph on top of the blankets. He took a small golden cross on a chain, a wax-sealed envelope with the Wallace Clan crest, and a semi-clear crystal bottle out of his pocket and placed them into one of Joseph's. He pressed a gentle kiss to Joseph's forehead and walked to the window. He took one last glance at his first love and jumped out into the night.

--

Kanda woke up at three o'clock the next morning like he always did on missions. Joseph was still asleep, but Kanda noticed he was on top of the blankets instead of under them. He just figured Joseph may have woken up while still under the influence of the sedatives and tried to get up but fell asleep again.

Kanda noticed something strange about Joseph's hands. There were scars all over the back of Joseph's hands where he had punched through numerous windows, but scars covered the palms of his hands as well. Kanda carefully turned over one of the half-akuma's hands in his own so he could see the palm. The palm of Joseph's hand was covered in a large round scar. An identical one was on his other palm.

Kanda dropped Joseph's hands and jumped back when he realized exactly made those scars. He had seen it enough times. A level one akuma wouldn't want to transform all the way and would sprout cannons from random parts of their bodies. Those bodies were dead with no blood moving through them. They had no pulse, and Kanda knew that Joseph had a pulse.

He walked out of the room. He had to clear his head then or he would be trying to unravel the secrets to Joseph's past all day. That was Lavi's job. Not his.

--

_A thirteen-year-old Joseph and a sixteen-year-old Florenz were sitting in a forest clearing beside a pool of water. Joseph had his bare feet in the water and was tracing intricate patterns in the surface of the water with a finger. Florenz was leaning against a tree behind Joseph._

_"Florenz, what is love?" Joseph suddenly asked._

_"Love? It's the one word that you can ask a hundred different people what it means and you'll get a hundred different answers. It's impossible to describe, but I'll try my best," Florenz started._

_"How can you describe it if it's impossible?"_

_"I said I'll try. Doesn't mean I'll succeed."_

_"You're not making any sense."_

_"Love is an emotion. There's many different forms of love. They all share a longing to protect the person who is the object of their affection and a want to be near that person all them time and maybe forever."_

_"Since when have you become an expert?"_

_"Since I realized how much I love you, Joey."_

_Florenz crawled forward and slid his arms around Joseph's waist. Joseph turned his head in surprise only for Florenz to capture his lips in a chaste kiss. _

_Florenz smiled when he saw the magenta blush that covered the younger boy's face. He realized what he did and pulled away quickly while turning a similar shade._

--

_Joseph was laying on the edge of a grassy cliff. His blood and broken chains were scattered around him. Johnathan's fourteen-year-old form hovered over the drop off with the full moon behind him. He threw Joseph a black rose and disappeared._

Joseph woke up panting in a cold sweat. For once, it wasn't the dream about Johnathan that unnerved him. The dream about Florenz was a bit disturbing considering what he had become. Could a Noah love?

Joseph sighed and sat up. He absently noted that someone had dressed him while he was out. He sighed and took off his coat and shirt. He gently wrapped up his chest in bandages. He had a tendency to randomly walk around the Order shirtless, and he didn't want people to ask why the had a scar on his chest that looked like someone performed an autopsy on him alive. He was about to put his shirt back on when he noticed that the despair kanji had moved to his shoulder and an orange tattoo was in the space on his arm where the kanji once were. Could it be the true form of his Innocence? He carefully put on his shirt and reached for his coat.

When Joseph picked up his coat, he noticed that it weighed slightly more than usual. He searched through the pockets and took out the cross necklace, the envelope, and the crystal bottle. He opened the envelope and read the letter.

**Joseph,**

**I'm truly sorry for the way I treated you the last time I saw you. I wasn't in control of my mind. The Noah and the clan curse were. It's at times like that I wish I could sync with the curse like you can. I'm sure you know that this isn't the real reason for this letter.**

**The necklace has an Innocence fragment in it. I'm synchronized with it and it seems to keep the Noah at bay when I wear it. I've passed it on to you because I don't want the Earl to destroy it. **

**The bottle is filled with holy water. It seems to hurt my Noah, so maybe it could kill it. I won't be myself the next time we meet, and I want you to force me to drink the holy water. I also want my necklace back at that time.**

**I hear Tyki's footsteps and I don't want to know what will happen if he finds out that I'm writing to an exorcist, so goodbye for now.**

**with love,**

**Florenz**

Joseph folded up the letter and put it, the bottle, and the necklace back into his pocket. A smirk that the world hadn't seen for three years found its way onto his face.

"So you're feeling like yourself again?" Johnathan asked.

"I am," Joseph replied.

"About time! I'm tired of my sarcastic jerk of a brother acting like me."

"I don't act like you, moron."


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the long wait. I temporarily fell out of love with both Joseph and Aiden (the main character of Phoenix). I was also working on my next project, which is a fic about Allen, Lenalee, Kanda, and Lavi going into the future to help 2008's Black Order. I should have the first chapter of that out soon once I figure out what the Innocence of one of the exorcists should be and all of the future Noah's abilities. It's a collaborative project with my friend, Wolf (he doesn't have an account here).

Disclaimer: I still don't own D. Gray-Man.

* * *

It took three days of hell for Joseph and Kanda to pay off Cross's insane amount of debts in Verona. They mostly ended up washing monstrous amounts of dishes. They still owed a lot after they had finished with the dishes and cleaning the places. Joseph was forced to sell some of his drawings and almost turned to prostitution until Kanda captured and turned in a wanted highway man and got the reward. They paid off the debts and had some money left over. Joseph immediately led Kanda to the nearest restaurant and attempted to eat his weight in pasta.

In the middle of the meal, Kanda suddenly spoke up, "This has been irritating me for a while and it won't leave me alone until I ask you."

"Ask me what?" Joseph asked between bites.

"What is your first language?"

"I didn't know my accent disturbed you that much. I know it's unusual, but still . . ."

"It doesn't disturb me. I've never met anyone else with the same."

"I'm one of the only three people in the world with this accent. The other two are my mother and one of the Noah's."

"I see. What is your first language?"

"I'm not sure if I learned Chinese first or German first. I spent my first five years of life in China with the rest of the clan and moved to Munich when I was six, but I learned German when I was still in China . . ."

Neither said much more until they were on the train. Joseph merely got up halfway through the ride to call the Order. He came back thirty minutes later looking murderous.

"What's wrong?" Kanda asked.

"_Dieser frauenjagender Faulpelz stirbt wenn ich ihn das nächste Mal wieder sehe!_"(1) Joseph growled.

Kanda just gave him a questioning look as he didn't understand German all that well.

"Komui just spent twenty minutes yelling at me about not finding out where Cross went," Joseph said in English as he sat down and dragged his fingers through his shoulder length hair in frustration.

The train came to a sudden halt and was knocked off the tracks. Screams came from the other compartments. Joseph suddenly punched out the window and jumped out. About thirty level one akuma and four level twos were attacking the train.

By the time Kanda was out on the battlefield, Joseph had already defeated at least five of the level ones. His right forearm was covered in flames. He currently had his fist buried in the body of a snake-like level two. The akuma was screaming in agony until it suddenly exploded with a bit more force than akuma's dying explosion usually had. The ground cracked from the force of the explosion and several level one akuma were destroyed by the flames produced.

Joseph looked at Kanda with a sadistic grin and eyes that could only be described as animalistic before moving on to the next level two. Kanda suppressed a shiver as he turned to his own opponents. After completely destroying the train tracks and the surrounding area, Kanda and Joseph managed to destroy all of the akuma without sustaining too many injuries. Kanda had several bruises that were already starting to heal and Joseph had a few small burns on his face and right arm from the first explosion. His right sleeve was burnt off to the elbow.

Kanda looked around the battlefield trying to make sure they didn't accidentally kill some of the train's passengers. He didn't see Joseph anywhere. Had Joseph possibly gone back onto the train and killed the passengers? Kanda was suddenly drawn out of his thoughts when he felt someone pulling on his sleeve.

Joseph was standing slightly to the left of Kanda with an iron grip on Toma's wrist. He was a lot calmer than he had been during the battle. His hand wrapped none too gently around Kanda's wrist and he started running at that speed that a person could only achieve after several years of ninjitsu training.

They quickly made it to the town below the cliff where the Black Order was located where Joseph promptly fainted. Toma gently supported the weight of the exhausted exorcist as they made their way to the Order. Kanda took Joseph when they got to the building and dropped him onto his bed before going to give Komui the report. Kanda desperately hoped that Joseph never met General Tiedoll. Judging from the walls of his room, Joseph and the General would get along perfectly and somehow end up irritating Kanda about it.

--

Joseph woke up in his own room. Running at full speed took a lot out of him. He was merely surprised that Toma knew where his room was. He made it a point to never let anyone except Luke, Brianna, Kanda, and Lavi know where his room was. Luke and Brianna were his best friends, Kanda lived in the room to his left, and Lavi found the room on accident. He finally concluded that Kanda may have had a moment of kindheartedness and brought him.

He shrugged off his burnt uniform and ruined shirt and replaced them with a white sleeveless shirt and a long green coat with the kanji of despair sewn onto the back. He walked out of his room headed toward the dining hall. His innocence was finally giving him a proper appetite.

He walked into the dining hall to find it mostly empty. Lavi and Luke were sitting at his usual table. He ordered a huge amount of food and joined them at the table.

"What did I miss?" he asked.

"Allen woke up, but he's in the infirmary for about another week or two. I think Komui made another Komurin and Brianna did something wierd," Luke replied.

"Explain what you mean by wierd," Joseph said.

"Lavi should explain."

"Lavi, what happened?"

"Brianna stole my coat and stabbed me in the arm," Lavi whined.

"She's just being Brianna. She stabbed you to draw blood. She does that to every redhead she meets," Joseph said before starting to devour his food.

"That's right . . . she does, and that's why I confiscated all of her kunai. I just wonder how she got one to stab Lavi with," Luke said.

"I gave them back," Joseph said between bites.

"Why?"

"So she wouldn't use the ghost crystal unnecessarily."

* * *

(1) That's supposed to translate to "That womanizing slacker dies the next time I see him!" but I, unfortunately don't speak German, so I don't know if it makes sense or not. I think I may have corrected it, but I'm still not really sure (I thank you so much, asa).


End file.
